Virginia Blackford Mineral Collection: Visitors can see selections from over 500 mineral specimens collected by Virginia Lee Blackford and given to the Science Center in 1996.

Earthquake: A visitor can use their jumping power with a seismogram to create their own earthquake.

Sponsor: Art Endress

Fluorescent Mineral Station: See how minerals respond to different wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation

The earth's crust changes and causes new rocks to form and old rocks to change. The changes in the earth's crust can be caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, or the effects of wind or water. Rocks are natural combinations usually made of one, two, or more minerals. Minerals are nonliving solids that are found in nature. However, some minerals were formed from animals or vegetables. Minerals are classified by a chemical formula.

There are 3 main kinds of rocks -- Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic. Let's study each kind:

Igneous Rocks Igneous rocks are called fire rocks and are formed either underground or above ground. Underground, they are formed when the melted rock, called magma, deep within the earth becomes trapped in little pockets. As these pockets of magma cool slowly, the magma becomes igneous rocks.

Igneous rocks are also formed when volcanoes erupt, causing the magma to rise above the earth's surface. When magma appears above the earth, it is called lava. Igneous rocks are formed as the lava cools. Here are 3 kinds of Igneous Rocks:

Pumice rocks are igneous rocks which were formed when lava cooled quickly above ground. Pumice rocks are ground up and used to polish other surfaces.

Granite rocks are igneous rocks which were formed by slowly cooling pockets of magma that were trapped beneath the earth's surface.

Obsidian rocks are igneous rocks that form when lava cools quickly above ground. Obsidian is actually glass and not a mixture of minerals.

Sedimentary rocks For thousands, even millions of years, little pieces of our earth have been broken down and worn away by wind and water (this is called erosion). These little bits of our earth are washed downstream where they settle to the bottom of the rivers, lakes, and oceans. Layer after layer of eroded earth is deposited on top of each. These layers are pressed down more and more through time, until the bottom layers slowly turn into rock.

Sandstone rocks are sedimentary rocks made from small grains of the minerals quartz and feldspar

Limestone rocks are sedimentary rocks that are made from the mineral calcite which came from the beds of evaporated seas and lakes and from sea animal shells.

Conglomerate rocks are sedimentary rocks. They are made up of large sediments like sand and pebbles.

Metamorphic rocks are rocks that have "morphed" into another kind of rock. These rocks were once igneous or sedimentary rocks. How do sedimentary and igneous rocks change? The rocks are under tons and tons of pressure, which fosters heat build up, and this causes them to change. If you exam metamorphic rock samples closely, you'll discover how flattened some of the grains in the rock are.

Schist rocks are metamorphic. These rocks can be formed from basalt, an igneous rock; shale, a sedimentary rock; or slate, a metamorphic rock. Through tremendous heat and pressure, these rocks were transformed into this new kind of rock.

Gneiss rocks are metamorphic. These rocks may have been granite, which is an igneous rock, but heat and pressure changed it.

Marble rocks are metamorphic. These rocks may be made of either limestone or dolostone that was changed by heat and pressure